166: Chapter 166 Black Dog Appears

"Which one of you was near the Forbidden Forest last night?"

Draco slammed his schoolbag onto the long table, the silver fork vibrating with a jump. Two first-years nearby immediately shrank their necks.

Nott looked up, a pencil clamped between his fingers. "Finish your sentence first, don't just throw half a thought out to scare people."

Draco lowered his voice. "Someone saw a Black Dog on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It's huge, even bigger than the hound Hagrid keeps. The third-year Hufflepuffs are already spreading rumors about it staring into the Castle windows."

Zabini pushed the candy box toward the edge of the plate. "A Black Dog, an omen of death. Trelawney will love that."

"Don't mention her." Draco's expression darkened. "We all heard what she said about Allen's cup last time."

Allen leaned back in his chair, the pumpkin juice beside him untouched. His eyelids were half-lowered, as if he had just been dragged out of an untimely sleep.

"The location where it was seen."

Draco paused, stunned. "You're asking me?"

"You were the one talking just now."

Nott had already opened an old book and written the words "Black Dog" on a blank page. "The edge of the Forbidden Forest, near the west side of the gamekeeper's hut. There's another report: someone in Gryffindor said that the patrolling portraits saw a Black shadow pass beneath the clock tower last night."

Zabini looked toward the teachers' table. "Lupin is back. He looks worse than before his sick leave."

Draco frowned. "What does a Werewolf have to do with a Black Dog?"

Nott stopped his pen. "In the old case from twelve years ago, the House of Black's crest featured a Black Dog. Or more accurately, a large canine Animagus."

Draco looked sharply at Allen. "Black?"

Allen picked up his napkin and wiped his hands. "Don't say the full name in the Great Hall."

Muffled discussions spread from the surrounding tables. Harry looked up from the Gryffindor long table, his expression also grim. Ron was saying something to him, his finger pointing toward the Forbidden Forest. Hermione held her books, looking first at Harry, then at Lupin at the teachers' table.

Draco irritably broke a piece of bread. "He breaks into the Castle, slashes The Fat Lady's portrait, and now he's running to the edge of the Forbidden Forest to watch the students. The Ministry of Magic can't catch a fugitive, and the Dementors are still blocking the school entrance, sucking the cold air."

"Stop criticizing the Ministry of Magic." Zabini warned. "Your father still has to deal with them."

"My father has to weigh his words even when speaking on the Board of Governors now." Draco bit off the second half of his sentence, his face tight with anger. "Don't change the subject. Allen, if Black really can turn into a dog, it would be much easier for him to get in and out of the Castle than the Ministry of Magic thinks."

"He has already been in."

Allen pushed his cup away. "The incident with The Fat Lady proves that. He was looking for a path, an entrance, looking for a rat he thought was still in Gryffindor."

Draco immediately shut his mouth.

Nott wrote "Target is still Peter" on the paper and folded the corner. "The fake Scabbers is still beside Ron. If Black is relying on his sense of smell, he'll find something isn't right."

"A normal rat's scent is enough." Allen said. "Peter has been locked away for too long, his scent has faded. Black can only rely on old leads to find Ron."

Zabini tapped his fingers on the candy box. "Then Ron is the one in danger."

Draco looked toward the Gryffindor long table. "What does Weasley's danger have to do with us?"

Allen glanced at him.

Draco swallowed his next words. "Fine, I'll shut up. World lines, witnesses, old cases, whatever you want to call it."

The first class in the morning was Charms Class. As soon as Professor Flitwick entered the classroom, he was surrounded by a group of students asking about the Black Dog. The small Professor stood on a stack of books, his voice turning shrill from the noise.

"Students, Hogwarts has Professors and Dementors guarding it. Please do not approach the Forbidden Forest casually, and do not treat tea leaf readings as safety guidelines."

Ron said in a low voice in the back row: "He heard about the Black Dog too."

Harry's quill spun half a circle between his fingers. "I saw it last night."

Hermione turned her head immediately. "You didn't tell me."

"After practice, I saw a Black shadow under the stands. It was large, standing behind a pillar. By the time I went over, it was gone."

Ron's face fell. "Harry, a Black Dog following you, that sounds really bad."

"Shut up, Ron." Hermione opened her book. "The Black Dog legend isn't reliable. The issue is whether Black has the ability to be an Animagus."

Allen sat by the window, his fingertips pressing down on his quill. In his Portable Space, the void-tail pressed against the outer wall of Peter's cage. Peter's gag was lifted for a breath, and he immediately squeezed out a sentence in a hoarse voice.

"He can change. He could always change. No one registered it."

The void-tail tightened, and the gag returned to Peter.

Allen wrote on the parchment: Animagus, unregistered, Black Dog form. High probability of learning during the same period as Peter.

Draco looked at the paper sideways. "Are you writing a fugitive file during class?"

"The homework is too simple."

Professor Flitwick happened to look over. "Mr. Potter, since you are so confident, please demonstrate the stable control of the Levitation Charm."

Draco immediately turned his face away, Nott lowered his head to write, and Zabini closed the candy box. All three posed as if they weren't familiar with Allen.

Allen raised his wand, and a feather on the table rose quietly, stopping at the height of Professor Flitwick's chest. The feather didn't wobble or spin, as if it were nailed in mid-air.

Professor Flitwick blinked. "Very good, five points. The stability is excellent."

Hermione turned back from the front row, her gaze falling on the edge of the feather, then shifting to Allen's wrist. Her notebook was open, the page from Divination class tucked in the middle, with the words "Space" visible on the corner.

After class, Harry stopped Allen in the corridor.

"You heard me mention the Black Dog."

Draco blocked the middle directly. "Potter, are you now asking Allen to explain even dogs to you?"

Harry ignored him. "You said last time that friends are more dangerous than enemies. Were you talking about Black?"

Allen tucked his book under his arm. "Don't run around before the match."

"Answer me."

Hermione followed from the side. "If the Black Dog is an Animagus, Black can bypass the Dementors and guards. Harry needs to be warned."

"Lupin will warn him." Allen walked past them toward the stairs. "You should ask him instead."

Harry chased after him for two steps. "Why do you always say half of what you mean?"

"The whole sentence would cost points."

Ron was stunned. "You can lose points for that too?"

Draco sneered. "Weasley, your comprehension can occasionally save your life. Don't always wait for others to stuff the answers into your pocket."

Hermione pursed her lips, not arguing with Draco. She turned and looked toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, clutching her book tighter.

In the afternoon, before Quidditch practice, Harry stopped in the shadow of the stands again. He flew a low circle on his broom, suddenly dipped his altitude, and stared at the north corner.

It was empty.

Ron shouted from below: "Harry, what did you see?"

Harry landed. "There was a shadow just now."

Wood's face darkened. "Don't let Trelawney influence you. We have a match the day after tomorrow, and the Dementors are already enough trouble."

At the other end of the stands, Allen stood behind a pillar without entering the field. His fingers hooked the knut in his sleeve, his Spatial Perception spreading out along the stands, the grassy slope, and the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

In the cold wind, there was wet soil, tree bark, broom oil from the students, and the trace of an adult Wizard's magic that had crouched low over the grass.

The trace was rough, carrying the sense of compression after an Animagus transformation. The background color was very old, matching the sense of age remaining on Peter, but it was more direct, harder.

Allen closed his eyes.

In the Portable Space, the void lifted its head. The cracked pocket watch beside the ebony box didn't light up, but Peter suddenly pressed against the inner wall of the cage, his throat making a silent plea.

"Same era."

Allen wrote on the file.

Sirius Black. Animagus. Black Dog form. Has entered the outer perimeter of Hogwarts.

Nott stood behind him at some point, his voice very low. "Confirmed?"

Allen closed the parchment. "Confirmed."

Nott looked toward the Forbidden Forest. "Should we tell Snape?"

"Tell him, and then let him chase a dog with old grudges, dragging Lupin into it as well?"

Nott paused. "That would be troublesome indeed."

Draco ran up the steps of the stands, breathing a bit heavily. "Harry said he saw the Black shadow again. What are you two doing here?"

Zabini followed behind. "He asked three times, so I had to bring him over."

Allen tucked the parchment into his sleeve. "Watching a dog."

Draco's face turned pale. "Don't make it sound like you're at a pet shop."

At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the shadows of the trees flickered. In the distance, a Black outline paused for a split second at the edge of the grassy slope, then dove into the bushes.

Harry looked up sharply in the middle of the pitch.

Allen saw it too.

The position where the Black Dog stood was very clever. It could see Harry, observe the entrance to the Gryffindor stands, and avoid the direct line of sight from the teachers' tower.

The candy box in Zabini's hand clicked softly. "He's waiting."

Nott added the second half of the sentence. "Waiting for Ron, waiting for Scabbers, waiting for an opportunity."

Draco's voice was tight. "How much longer can that fake rat hold out?"

"Until he realizes he's on the wrong path."

Allen turned and walked down the stands. "From now on, record the three routes: Harry, Ron, and the Black Dog. Don't get close, don't feed it, don't call a Professor."

Draco chased after him. "Are you treating a fugitive like prey?"

Allen didn't stop walking. "The prey has already shown its head."